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Apartment Complex Problems
humblebumble
Registered User regular
Registered User regular
Hey all!
I need some advice. My girlfriend and I live in an apartment complex owned by a management company. We don't feel safe living here, and we want to move. We have had problems with neighbors disrupting us with their noise and inviting trashy friends over. They have even started what we think is an illegal daycare. I have reported these noise violations to the police and the landlord (both not doing anything about it). Also, we have seen drug deals, and we have reported that to the police. We are afraid that the drug dealers will bring violence with them. We have also seen people not following the rules outlined on the lease almost daily. We want out of the lease, but the landlord won't budge and lies about fixing the problems.
We hate it here and want to move out. We are desperate for advice.
I need some advice. My girlfriend and I live in an apartment complex owned by a management company. We don't feel safe living here, and we want to move. We have had problems with neighbors disrupting us with their noise and inviting trashy friends over. They have even started what we think is an illegal daycare. I have reported these noise violations to the police and the landlord (both not doing anything about it). Also, we have seen drug deals, and we have reported that to the police. We are afraid that the drug dealers will bring violence with them. We have also seen people not following the rules outlined on the lease almost daily. We want out of the lease, but the landlord won't budge and lies about fixing the problems.
We hate it here and want to move out. We are desperate for advice.
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In some states unsafe conditions are enough to void the lease.
Also it sounds from the tone of your post you may be an awful neighbor to have. The people who live around you are in no way obligated to make sure you're not disturbed by normal life in an apartment complex.
Maryland
Do you suffer from Jekyll and Hyde syndrome? You started out acting concerned and then all of a sudden you insulted me by implying that I am a bad neighbor based on my tone. Look I want to move because neighbors are selling drugs and being loud and obnoxious. I also have a landlord that doesnt enforce the rules outlined on the lease.
if you really think your lives are in danger, just move. your life is surely worth more than a security deposit.
Thanks for the advice, but I don't really appreciate the insults, implied or otherwise.
I'm not insulting you and neither was the other guy. It seems like you're determined to take offense and be paranoid, which is more than likely contributing to your problem at the apartment, as well.
and yeah, zerzhul is right about documenting incidents, but if you're hiring a lawyer over this you're going to be put out more than breaking the lease would cost you, and, again, you said you fear for your physical well being, so I'd suggest getting out of this dangerous situation quickly.
you can call the cops every single time someone raises a bunch of noise/whatever else you see. they have to come out, even if they get tired of you calling. the least they will do is knock on the people's doors or whatever, but at least you have something on file.
We really do want to move, but we simply cannot afford it at this time.
I think the best option would be to get a lawyer; however, I'm worried about the lawyer fees being more than the move-out fee.
Still, I agree that the OP needs to either document evidence and make a real actual case, move, or try to live with the issues.
I've been documenting every issue that I've brought to the LL's attention.
The lease states that I would need to pay four month's rent if I chose to move out early, which would be almost $5k.
The lease states there is to be no illegal conduct on the premises, tenants are not to make other tenants feel unsafe, tenants are not to disturb the peace of any of the other tenants, and tenants are not to conduct their own business in their apartment.
I tried confronting someone about the noise, but they started acting belligerent towards me, which is when I decided to just go directly to the landlord. The landlord did not fix the issue, so I brought it to the attention of the police via a non-emergency number. The noise involves loud fighting, smashing against the walls, stomping, and loud music all happening after 10 p.m. Hell, there were even instances where children were throwing balls against the walls. Still, nothing has been done.
My girlfriend and I both saw drug deals happening at our apartment complex right outside our apartment. We already suspected that the heavy traffic at the apartment complex was due to drugs and seeing drug deals happen right before our eyes was just icing on the cake. And the problem I have with drugs is what drug dealers bring with them, which is violence. Drug dealers kill over money. We're worried about getting caught in the crossfire, which is a valid worry.
Back to the neighbor. The neighbor is having anywhere from 8 to 10 children in a single apartment. Due to noise and the age and sizes of the apartments, they are only supposed to have up to 4 people in an apartment. That's all. Not to mention, it is illegal to conduct business or run a business in an apartment. Also, we are both bothered by the loud fights that go on within their apartment late at night and we're talking about after midnight.
And EVEN in a best case scenario where you can prove that drug deals are going on or someone's running an illegal daycare, that still wouldn't necessarily get you out of the lease.
Landlords that ignore small problems will be a beast to solve big problems. Landlord I never saw when I was with my ex-wife finally made an appearance after she called me up to report that the small leak she noticed when we were together turned into a big black wall of mold in the walls after our divorce.
She has allergies against mildew so this was a very, VERY bad thing.
Keep your ears to the ground for better apartments and if the property could be sold. I haven't read when your lease is up, or maybe I'm just a bad reader, but it sounds like you're in a position where you have to tough it out.
Discreetly move your expensive and irreplaceable things to trusted family members or public storage.
Also, have you issued your complaints to the landlord and the management company or just the landlord? Sometimes the landlord is employed by the management company and they don't know when the landlord is non-responsive to tenant complaints. If they are one and the same, it may be that they will agree to let you out of your lease just to cut back on the complaints they have to listen to.
When you do ultimately move to a new apartment, I would suggest visiting it at different times a day several times to make sure that you aren't moving into a similarly unpleasant situation. If you're really sensitive to noise, you might try finding more of a stand alone rental if you can afford it.
When my roommate started exhibiting signs of being a psychopath (literally telling me that she likes making other people unhappy,) I videotaped the state of the apartment (her piles of garbage and all,) moved all my stuff out of there while she was at class, used the documentation to get the building manager to begin regular check-ups so I didn't get stuck paying for damages caused by her after the move, and got a subletter.
That subletter is probably saving me upwards of 3K.